‘Guns
not Butter’ [EFICS]
1.
Employment
•
In June 1933, the Nazis passed a Law to Reduce Unemployment. •
The RAD (National
Labour Service) sent men
on public works; eg the
autobahns. •
Government spending
rose, 1932–38 from about 5 billion to 30 billion marks. •
Unemployment fell from
nearly 6 million to virtually nothing. •
Hitler built
up the armed forces (e.g. conscription took 1 million unemployed). •
The soldiers needed
equipment, so this set steel mills, coal mines and factories back into
production. The Luftwaffe gave jobs to fitters, engineers and designers. • The Nazi state machinery needed thousands of clerks, prison guards etc.
2.
Farming
•
By the 1933 Farm Law, farmers were assured of sales and given
subsidies. •
The government kept food prices at the 1928 level. • BUT farmers were organised into the Reich Food Estate and strictly controlled (e.g., one rule stated that hens must lay 65 eggs a year).
3. Industry
• The New Plan of 1934 stopped imports, and subsidised industry. This is called 'Autarky' - the belief that Germany should be self-sufficient. •
Production rose, especially of oil, steel, coal and explosives. •
In 1936, Goering was put in charge. His Four Year Plan proposed
to get the army and industry ready for war in four years. •
Employers
were happy when workers were well disciplined. •
BUT
businesses were strictly controlled; they could be told to make
something different/ were not allowed to raise wages/ workers could be
sent to other factories. •
Goering said: ‘Iron makes an empire strong; butter only makes
people fat’. • Economists know now that these policies cause massive economic problems.
4.
Conditions
•
The Nazis tried to make people proud (e.g. the film The
Beauty of Work in 1934). •
BUT trade
unions were banned and all workers had to join the German Labour Front.
They
lost their right to strike for better pay and conditions. •
Wages
actually fell. •
People
who refused to work were imprisoned. • Wages and conditions on the RAD schemes were very poor.
5.
Strength
through Joy (KdF) Movement
•
Workers were offered
cut-price holidays, theatre trips and concerts. In Berlin,
1933–38, the KdF sponsored 134,000 events for 32 million people (2
million went on cruises & weekend trips, and 11 million on theatre
trips). •
The KdF designed the Volkswagen
(or ‘People’s Car’) ‘Beetle’, which it was planned to be able
to buy for 5 marks a week. • The government made sure that everybody could get a cheap radio.
What
do YOU think?
Discuss these statements: ?
'Germans gave up their political
freedom in return for work and other benefits.' ?
‘Germany
was actually a wonderful place to live unless you were Jewish, Socialist
or Communist, or you believed in individual freedom’. ?
The
historian Tim Mason thinks that Germany was in a financial mess
in 1939, and that Hitler went
to war to cover it up.
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